Johnson in just 15 games shot past the mark of 1,848 Hall of Famer Jerry Rice set with the San Francisco 49ers in 1995. It was Johnson's eighth consecutive game with at least 100 yards receiving, and his second 200-yard game in that stretch.

Calvin Johnson can thank Matt Stafford for throwing his directions so often en route to a single-season receiving record. (AP Photo)

The Lions have now lost the past seven of those games to fall to 4-11, a season after making the playoffs at 10-6.

While Detroit will hope to end its freefall with a home win against the NFC North rival Chicago Bears in Week 17, the focus will remain on Johnson. Now with 1,892 yards for 2012, Johnson has a good chance, with a modest (for him) 108 against the Bears, to become the first NFL receiver to surpass 2,000 yards in a season.

It's appropriate that Johnson, who grew up near Atlanta in Tyrone, Ga., and attended college in Atlanta at Georgia Tech, was able to break the record against the Falcons.

The Falcons still got their job done, clinching the top seed in the NFC playoffs. Meanwhile, the Lions, their fellow NFC wild card from a season ago, have had so many problems this season that they're left celebrating the amazing individual accomplishments of their most talented player.

While Johnson is stuck waiting to enjoy the type of team success Rice did in his career, it's remarkable that Johnson has entered the same stratosphere as someone who many consider to be not just the best wide receiver of all time, but best offensive player of all time.

Consider the NFL has seen many big, fast, big-play receivers since Rice's best playing days. Future Hall of Famers Terrell Owens and Randy Moss have their name high on many all-time reception, yardage and touchdown lists. But Johnson at 6-5, 236 pounds has dominated the modern, pass-heavy game by putting it all together — size, speed, hands, route running — to more than live up to his devastating nickname, Megatron.

Johnson is in his sixth season, and has shaken off early-career injuries to become a durable, physical force. Looking at how long Owens and Moss hung around to be productive, Johnson has many years left to build on his legend. He likely won't catch Rice's career marks, but he has a good chance of going down as the best Lions player of all time.

That distinction now belongs to Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders. Sanders was an electrifying player in Detroit, and like Johnson, produced even when his support system was letting him down. Johnson is fortunate to have a quarterback in Matt Stafford who can get him the ball often everywhere, and that on-field rapport puts him in position to have several additional eye-popping seasons.

Sanders retired after 10 seasons, making us what wonder what could have been. Johnson seems to be just getting warmed up with what he's done in the past two.

When Johnson suits up next Sunday to wreak havoc on the Bears' secondary, the number to watch is 2,054. That would give him one more receiving yard in a season than Sanders had rushing in his best season — 15 years ago in 1997.

Whether Lions fans prefer Sanders or now Johnson as their favorite all-time great, one thing won't be up to debate — it would be nice that now their team has another once-in-a-lifetime talent, it can find a way to consistently win around him.